Euphrates

A river of southwest Asia flowing about 2,800 km (1,740 mi) from central Turkey through Syria and into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris River to form the Shatt al Arab. Its waters were a major source of irrigation for the flourishing civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia.

The river in the Middle East, 2780 kilometers in length, flowing southwest from Turkey, then southeast, and uniting with the Tigris before entering the Persian Gulf. It forms the Western edge of classical Mesopotamia.

Sentence Examples

The two sources together drain the region south as the Euphrates drains the region north of the Taurus mountains.

Water traffic on the Euphrates and canals was early very considerable.

The Nahr Malk or royal river, modern Radhwaniya, leaves the Euphrates five leagues below this and joins the Tigris three leagues below Ctesiphon; while the Kutha, modern Habl-Ibrahim, leaving the Euphrates three leagues below the Malk joins the Tigris ten leagues below Ctesiphon.

The course of the Tigris is much shorter than that of the Euphrates, about 1150 m.

At the point of entering the alluvial plain the bed of the Tigris seems to be lower than that of the Euphrates, so that the canals run from the latter to the former stream.